Billy Burbank III receives the 2014 Florida Folk Heritage Award

Submitted by
Peggy A. Bulger

I first met the Burbank family in 1979, when I was serving as Florida’s State Folklorist for the Department of State.  We were filming a TV documentary on the traditions and folk culture surrounding Florida’s shrimping industry (Fishing All My Days).  Back then, there were about 100 shrimp-boats plying the waters from Fernandina’s port.

The Burbank family was an essential part of the life and work of all of the shrimpers on Amelia Island, but they also supplied nets to shrimpers and fisherman throughout the region.  Today, there are only a handful of Fernandina shrimp boat captains still making a living from the sea, and they continue to rely upon Burbank trawls for their livelihood. The story of the Burbank net-making business is a rare and wonderful success story, where shrimp-nets are now only 10% of the business and Burbank Sports Nets is serving an international market.

On January 13th, Florida’s Secretary of State, Ken Detzner, named William Hunter (Billy) Burbank III as a 2014 Florida Folk Heritage Award winner.  This is the highest honor in the state for those who have made a life-long contribution to Florida’s cultural heritage.  By extension, the award recognizes the entire Burbank family and their generations of work as outstanding traditional artisans and a key part of Florida’s shrimping industry.

The Burbank family has been making shrimp trawls and fish nets since 1915 and Billy III is a member of the third generation of Burbank men to be recognized for their outstanding craftsmanship and innovative designs in a culturally sustainable traditional occupation.  More importantly, the Burbanks have brought national attention to Florida’s First Coast shrimp fishing industry and to Fernandina’s maritime heritage. All of this has been accomplished while Billy has expanded his family’s traditional net-making into a sustainable business that serves new international markets for the 21st century.  By recognizing the opportunity to use a traditional art-form (net-making) for expanding markets, Billy Burbank III transformed the Burbank Trawl-makers into Burbank Sports Nets. This business currently supplies custom USA-made products for baseball, softball, football, soccer, hockey and other sports enterprises. His innovations in the design of both shrimp trawls and sports nets for TV broadcast have been recognized as ground-breaking in both the commercial shrimp fishing industry, and now in international sports circles.

Billy Burbank III was born on October 2, 1951, in Fernandina Beach.  As he says, he is “the son of a son of a net-maker”. His grandfather, William Hunter (Billy) Burbank, moved to Fernandina from Cumberland Island in 1915 and quickly parlayed his skills as a net-maker into a successful business.  Billy Senior and his wife, Effie, had six children, four daughters and two sons, including a son they named William Hunter Burbank, Jr. who soon joined his father and his uncle, Frank, in the net-making business.  Billy Jr. eventually took over the business as the owner and president of Burbank Trawl Makers, Inc., which was incorporated in 1957.  Billy III is the oldest of four boys born to Bill Jr. and his wife, Jane.

Billy III began making nets with his father and grandfather at age nine, learning the traditional way – by observation, custom and practice. In 1972, after one year of college at Florida Gulf Coast College, Billy joined the family business full-time.  He was a superb craftsman, who could create a hand-knotted net in record time, and without looking at his hands.  However, it was his inventiveness that sets Billy Burbank III apart from other net-makers.  His ingenuity was quickly put to use during this boon era for the shrimp industry.

In the early 1970s, the Burbanks (Bill Jr, Billy III, Tommy, David and Johnny) were known internationally as exceptional shrimp-net makers.  One reason for this was Billy’s 1974 net design called the “Mongoose”, which drastically improved on the standard “Otter” twin-trawl that was used by most shrimp fishermen at the time.  This was a “tongue-type” net to get more height.  There was a net being used in the Gulf of Mexico called a “Cobra”, which was a modified net with a tongue attached to gain more height.  Billy says that he called his net “The Mongoose” because “everyone knows that a Mongoose will eat a Cobra.”  At the time, most shrimp were escaping over the top of the current designed nets, Billy’s Mongoose could reach heights of 30 feet, and this resulted in amazing increases in the catch. It was a bold and audacious new design that was created by folk wisdom and skill, not the product of an engineering degree.

Consequently, Billy Burbank III was approached by NOAA and the Sea Grant programs of both Florida and Georgia to design and fabricate a device that would protect turtles from being caught in shrimp trawls.  Billy and his family helped fishermen develop successful “turtle exclusion devices” (TEDs) – again, with folk engineering and, according to Billy, “common sense, it’s just a gift.” Billy has been refining and tweaking his TED designs ever since, and he is still called on today for his superior product.  Most important for Florida’s maritime heritage, Billy Burbank III received the NOAA Environmental Hero Award in 2000 for his success at designing a humane and effective TED for the shrimp fishing industry.

The Burbanks also innovated the use of Spectra and Kevlar (fibers used in bullet-proof vests) for shrimp netting. These new fibers had superior strength and a finer mesh than the standard polyethylene netting. Billy says that “we could reduce the water flow and water pressure on the net, which meant greater fuel economy.” It is no wonder that Burbank nets were ordered worldwide and their reputation was unparalleled in the industry.

By the early 1980s the shrimp industry was in crisis, for many reasons, and the demand for trawls was decreasing every year.  Billy had realized that there needed to be changes at the Burbank Trawl Makers, but he was not sure what to do.  By happenstance, he was approached by his old high school football coach to make a batting cage for the Orange Park High School baseball team – netting is netting.  Billy made two batting cages for the school and subsequently, this coach went on to be the head baseball coach for the University of Florida. The Burbanks were asked to provide backstops and field screens for the UF baseball program.  Billy again had an idea.  Using Kevlar and Spectra, Billy Burbank created nets that were invisible to spectators, yet strong enough to hold up to the most fierce impact.  Billy recounts that “I got the idea that . . . we need the skill to see through this netting to see the game, [rather than] the old heavy netting that was used at that time.”  These first Burbank Sports Nets became the most sought after equipment in college sports, and all due to innovation from a traditional craftsman.  Billy says “Anybody that saw that [the nets], they just had to have it.  So that started getting us on the map.”  What is the best backstop? The Burbanks would answer “One that you can’t see!”

Burbank Sports Nets was created without benefit of direct advertising and without traveling salesmen, it became a success through the highly-effective traditional process of “word of mouth”.  Beginning in 2009, the fourth generation of the Burbank family came into the business when Billy III’s son, William Hunter Burbank IV (Hunter), graduated from the University of North Florida with a degree in Advertising and Communications.  Burbank Sports Nets currently does just under $3 million in sales a year – with only their website and “word of mouth” as a sales mechanism.  The website has posted the many laudatory testimonials concerning the quality of Burbank nets.  http://www.burbanksportnets.com/

The Burbanks also have branched out to make specialty nets for almost any purpose, and they are creating a new website “Nets 4 Everything” to gather their market.  They have even been called upon to do specialty jobs such as fashioning a huge underwater net for President Nixon’s Key Biscayne home during his tenure in the White House – to protect the First Family while swimming.  Through all of this business expansion, the Burbanks continue to make shrimp trawls and other maritime nets. As Billy puts it, “It’s just part of my heritage and who we are, and they [shrimpers] love Burbank nets.”

Billy Burbank III is not only known and revered internationally for his nets, he is a local hero to Fernandina Beach and Amelia Island residents.  This fact was perhaps best borne out when Billy was named the Grand Marshall Emeritus of the annual Shrimp Festival Parade.  The Fernandina Beach Shrimp Festival just celebrated it’s 50th year and this celebration of community folk culture and heritage unites the entire island (along with tens of thousands of visitors) in honoring the traditions of the shrimp fishing industry, the history of Amelia Island, and the arts and creativity of Floridians.  Billy’s father (Billy Jr.) was instrumental in starting the Shrimp Boat Races and was active in the festival for 22 years.  By naming Billy Burbank III as an Emeritus Grand Marshall, the community recognized this family’s contributions to the lives of Amelia Island residents.  With Billy’s success at net-making and in business and integrity, he has given back to the community in countless ways.  Billy has contributed regularly to local charities and is on the management team of the “Journey Church” – founded on the island.  With all of this community service, Billy Burbank III has remained loyal to his maritime heritage and traditional occupation.  On March 18, 2014, Billy Burbank III will be honored at a ceremony in Tallahassee, joining an illustrious list of Florida’s Folk Heritage heroes.  I can think of no one more deserving of Florida’s Folk Heritage Award than Billy Burbank III.  Congratulations to Billy and all of the extended Burbank family!

Editor’s Note:  Peggy Bulger, an island resident,  is a former Florida State Folklorist and Director of the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.  We thank Peggy for her contribution to the Fernandina Observer.

January 16, 2014 4:15 p.m.